


feathers & flame

by blood_and_gore



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Body Modification, Canonical Character Death, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Five Stages of Grief, Grief/Mourning, Pining, Post-Canon, Post-War, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:34:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28190991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blood_and_gore/pseuds/blood_and_gore
Summary: The worst thing for him right now is seeing his reflection, that moment where the missing ear doesn't register and all he sees is Fred. So what he really needs to do is to change his reflection.On April first, George gets the Gemini symbol tattooed under his collarbone.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/George Weasley, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	1. Gemini

**Author's Note:**

> George gets tattoos. Draco has one (1) friend if you don't count his sketchbook full of tattoo designs.

It is not enough to be missing an ear. When George Weasley looks in the mirror, all he sees is Fred.

In November of 1998, six months after the Battle of Hogwarts, winter hits hard. The cold weather comes, rain shifting to snow, and with it comes the depression stage of grief. Hermione had given them a talk: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Not necessarily in that order. For George, it was six months of denial followed by a melancholy that seeped into the deepest parts of him. It was in his bones, now. Nothing would wash it away.

He turns to numbness, as much as he can. No potion can anesthize him like he'd hope for, but he can try to instill it in himself.

That works until March. Living at home gradually becomes unbearable (and going back to their old flat is unthinkable) so he moves. Anger hits, then.

It's unexpected, at first: the mirror in the bathroom, larger than expected. He'd covered the windows at home, detatched the one in their his room. Seeing his reflection is too much. He covers it; the charm lasts a month before the cloth comes fluttering down as he washes his face one night, just a little drunk.

He smashes it into pieces. It occurs to him a few seconds later that this was a bad idea.

Percy comes (worried but not as overbearing as Mum might have been; thank Merlin for small blessings) after George's Floo call. He tuts and fusses and shakes his head, but he heals up George's hands and repairs the mirror and tapes up the cloth again with Muggle tape. He sits with George in silence as drunkenness takes him; when George wakes up in the morning, head pounding, there's a Muggle electrolyte drink and a headache potion on the kitchen counter.

After downing them both and taking what might possibly be the world's longest shower, he sits down in bed and thinks. Obviously, the worst thing for him right now is seeing his reflection, that moment where the missing ear doesn't register and all he sees is Fred somebody else. So what he really needs to do is to change his reflection.

He gets out one of the notebooks Harry had gotten him last year and makes a list. And this is how Bargaining starts.


	2. Lion

April first is their his birthday. To celebrate, he walks into the Muggle side of London. George follows the directions written down in his notebook until he finds the right address, and turns on the charm that people loved so much in Hogwarts: "Hello, I've got an appointment in fifteen minutes? I was told to come early when I called."

He leaves with the Gemini symbol under his collarbone.

Four weeks later, his left eyebrow is pierced. He reopens the shop; Ron offers to help. Little Luna Lovegood of all people joins, to work the register. She's dating Ginny now. George is still bargaining, but he's able to lose himself in work, and he doesn't look so much like Fred anymore. Still, in July goes back to the tattoo studio and asks for a a simple line drawing of a lion just under his collarbone.

When he's on his way out, he sees Draco bloody Malfoy of all people greet the receptionist, and forgets himself. "What on earth are you doing here?" He knows Malfoy was found innocent, knows Harry testified on his behalf, but for a moment all he sees is the sneering kid who insulted Hermione for years.

"I apprentice here." Is the only answer George gets before Malfoy walks off into the next room. Well. It's a small world.

This tattoo isn't as easily covered up as the other, or able to be taken out like the ring through his eyebrow. His mum throws a fit, but calms down.

In the first week of December, he goes back to the same shop. He jokes with the receptionist and the artist; they know him now, have heard his lie that he lost his ear in a terrorist bombing, have heard his lie that that's where he lost his brother. This time, he wants a tarantula on his shoulder, in vivid detail. Lee would've loved it.

The only issue is that Annie, the artist who did George's other tattoos, decrees that the shop's apprentice do this once. Apparently, she's better with blackwork, and "Drake" is fantastic with shading, and the other two artists aren't in today.

Malfoy is perfectly professional, actually. He shows George a drawing and they hash out what details should be changed, the sizing, all that. His hand is steady and the end result is beautiful. George says so.

"Well, it deserves to be. I assume it's in remembrance of your friend."

"I, yeah. It is."

Malfoy clears his throat. "I hear your shop is back open. I'll have to drop in sometime."

"We've got Peruvian Instant Brightness Powder now. Useful, that one is."


	3. Spider

And wouldn't you know it, three days later he comes into the shop. George is attending to customers− this one lady is being an absolute bitch to Luna and demands to speak to the manager, which is him, and he has to explain to her that no she cannot have a discount. When the lady finally walks away in a huff, Malfoy is standing there, looking at the ingredient list on the back of a bottle of Harry's Hangover Cure.

"Weasley?"

"Yeah?"

"Is this Gatorade?"

"Funny story, that! Turns out when you mix Gatorade and a headache potion, it does wonders for hangovers."

Malfoy sticks five bottles in his basket.

There's something shifty about him. He makes small talk with George for the next few minutes, talking in circles like he's trying to figure out how to properly word something. Finally, he blurts it out: "Anniethinkswere datinghelpme?"

George blinks. "Could you repeat that, much more slowly?"

"Annie. From the studio. She thinks we're dating?"

"And. Why would she think that?"

"Right. She thinks I don't have a social life, and she's been on my case about finding me a boyfriend for months. She saw me talking to you, figured out we're not total strangers, and jumped to conclusions. Now she's not on my case anymore and I'd like it to stay that way."

"And. How am I supposed to help you with that?"

"Don't suppose you'd be my date to her New Year's party?"


End file.
